I read every day - here are my top 5 books to read this year - 2 by same author

Books are a great way to relax, pass the time or learn something new - and choosing your favourites is a very subjective matter. They can leave an impression on a young mind, or offer guidance in a time of need, as well as provide a bit of escapism from reality.

As someone who reads every day, I have compiled a list of some of my favourite reads as of late, and why I think everyone should get them before the year is up. Here are my top five books to add to your 2025 reading list.

Happy Place by Emily Henry

The book's synopsis reads: "Harriet and Wyn have been the perfect couple since they met in college-they go together like salt and pepper, honey and tea, lobster and rolls. Except, now-for reasons they're still not discussing-they don't. They broke up six months ago. And still haven't told their best friends.

"Which is how they find themselves sharing the largest bedroom at the Maine cottage that has been their friend group's yearly getaway for the last decade. Their annual respite from the world, where for one vibrant, blue week they leave behind their daily lives; have copious amounts of cheese, wine, and seafood; and soak up the salty coastal air with the people who understand them most.

"Only this year, Harriet and Wyn are lying through their teeth while trying not to notice how desperately they still want each other. Because the cottage is for sale and this is the last week they'll all have together in this place. They can't stand to break their friends' hearts, and so they'll play their parts. Harriet will be the driven surgical resident who never starts a fight, and Wyn will be the laid-back charmer who never lets the cracks show. It's a flawless plan (if you look at it from a great distance and through a pair of sunscreen-smeared sunglasses). After years of being in love, how hard can it be to fake it for one week... in front of those who know you best?"

Midnight Library by Matt Haig

The book's synopsis reads: "When Nora Seed finds herself in the Midnight Library, she has a chance to make things right. Up until now, her life has been full of misery and regret. She feels she has let everyone down, including herself. But things are about to change.

"The books in the Midnight Library enable Nora to live as if she had done things differently. With the help of an old friend, she can now undo every one of her regrets as she tries to work out her perfect life. But things aren't always what she imagined they'd be, and soon her choices place the library and herself in extreme danger.

"Before time runs out, she must answer the ultimate question: what is the best way to live?"

Before the Coffee Gets Cold by Toshikazu Kawaguchi

The book's synopsis reads: "In a small back alley in Tokyo, there is a café which has been serving carefully brewed coffee for more than one hundred years. But this coffee shop offers its customers a unique experience: the chance to travel back in time.

"In Before the Coffee Gets Cold, we meet four visitors, each of whom is hoping to make use of the café's time-travelling offer, in order to: confront the man who left them, receive a letter from their husband whose memory has been taken by early onset Alzheimer's, to see their sister one last time, and to meet the daughter they never got the chance to know.

"But the journey into the past does not come without risks: customers must sit in a particular seat, they cannot leave the café, and finally, they must return to the present before the coffee gets cold . . .

"Toshikazu Kawaguchi's beautiful, moving story explores the age-old question: what would you change if you could travel back in time? More importantly, who would you want to meet, maybe for one last time?"

Talking at Night by Claire Daverley

The book's synopsis reads: "They're opposites in every way. She overthinks everything; he is her twin brother's wild and unpredictable friend. But over secret walks home and late-night phone calls, they become closer-destined to be one another's great love story. Until, one day, tragedy strikes, and their future together is shattered.

"But as the years roll on, Will and Rosie can't help but find their way back to each other. Time and again, they come close to rekindling what might have been.

"What do you do when the one person you should forget is the one you just can't let go?"

Book Lovers by Emily Henry

The blurb is as follows: "One summer. Two rivals. A plot twist they didn't see coming...

"Nora Stephens' life is books-she's read them all-and she is not that type of heroine. Not the plucky one, not the laidback dream girl, and especially not the sweetheart. In fact, the only people Nora is a heroine for are her clients, for whom she lands enormous deals as a cutthroat literary agent, and her beloved little sister Libby.

"Which is why she agrees to go to Sunshine Falls, North Carolina for the month of August when Libby begs her for a sisters' trip away-with visions of a small-town transformation for Nora, who she's convinced needs to become the heroine in her own story. But instead of picnics in meadows, or run-ins with a handsome country doctor or bulging-forearmed bartender, Nora keeps bumping into Charlie Lastra, a bookish brooding editor from back in the city. It would be a meet-cute if not for the fact that they've met many times and it's never been cute.

"If Nora knows she's not an ideal heroine, Charlie knows he's nobody's hero, but as they are thrown together again and again-in a series of coincidences no editor worth their salt would allow-what they discover might just unravel the carefully crafted stories they've written about themselves."